Subject: Found this in my yard last summer Geographic location of the bug: Sherwood Park, Alberta Date: 02/18/2018 Time: 11:13 PM EDT Your letter to the bugman: This was really big. What is it? How you want your letter signed: Hi

Poplar Borer

Based on this BugGuide image, we are pretty confident that your Longicorn is a Poplar Borer, Saperda calcarata, and it is described on BugGuide as being: “Largest of its genus. Prominent spines at tips of elytra. Coloration variable, pastel hues.”

Subject: Bug in my house in winter Geographic location of the bug: Norton Shores, Michigan Date: 02/11/2018 Time: 09:27 AM EDT Your letter to the bugman: I found this bug crawling on the floor in winter. February 2018. This is the second one in about a month. It is 1/2 to 5/8 inch long. The antennas were quite long. It looks like some kind of a beetle. I’ve looked, but can’t see a pictures of it. Should I be concerned? Thank you How you want your letter signed: no

Cedar Tree Borer

Based on this BugGuide image, we are confident that this is a Cedar Tree Borer, and if you brought firewood into the house recently and the wood was arborvitae, cypress, juniper or cedar, the adult Cedar Tree Borers may be emerging from the firewood in the warm interior of your home. It is also possible they are emerging from some piece of furniture or wooden object that was made from the host plants. They will not infest milled lumber.

Thanks for helping to ID the Cedar Tree Borer. That’s it alright. Here is another photo

for you to look at. Last November I brought home some rough cut Eastern Red Cedar

to let dry inside the house. I just examined all the boards. I found one that had bore

holes in it. I assume that’s where it came from. It’s good to hear they won’t reproduce in the house. I’ll have to examine my boards a little better next time.

Thank you, Wayne

Infested Cedar plank

Dear Wayne, While you don’t have to worry about the already milled lumber becoming infested, you should be aware that when immature wood boring insects are living in wood that gets milled, the maturing process is frequently delayed. There are incidents of some beetles emerging from wood that has been milled as long as fifty years earlier, so you may experience some Cedar Borers in the years to come.

Daniel, Thanks for all the information. After hearing that they can emerge many years later that makes me think again. I love Eastern Red Cedar and have made quite a few things out of it. Maybe I better check all the things I have in the house made out of cedar. I don’t remember using any cedar in the past with bore holes. I’ll keep an eye out. This reminds of something that happened back in 1975. I came back from Columbia South America with some small walnut carved figures. After

being back home for awhile, I noticed a pile of fine sawdust at the base of one. There was a very small bore hole above it. I assumed some kind of bug did it and we just got rid of the whole thing. It’s amazing what we bring back home and never know it.

Subject: Flower beetle of some sort? Geographic location of the bug: Teror, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands Date: 02/03/2018 Time: 08:54 AM EDT Your letter to the bugman: Hi, Just wondered what it was as it wandered across our table today! How you want your letter signed: Caitlin Hotham

Longicorn: Deroplia albida

Dear Caitlin, This is a Longhorned Borer Beetle or Longicorn in the family Cerambycidae, and we believe we have identified it as Deroplia albida thanks to images posted on Old World Cerambycidae Catalog and on Tenerife 2010. According to Cerambycidae: “Deroplia gertiana is a nocturnal species endemic to Tenerife (Canary Islands). The species is polyphagous on herbaceous plants, shrubs and also deciduous trees (Ficus carica).”

Fab! Thank you! But its on Gran Canaria.. not Tenerefe.. so its not endemic to just one canary island! Or its another sub species or the like?

Thanks again 🙂

We can’t answer that. Perhaps the population is spreading to nearby islands.

Subject: Grub Geographic location of the bug: San Diego coastal 15″ below ground Date: 01/20/2018 Time: 08:00 PM EDT Your letter to the bugman: I’ve never encountered a grub so large before and would like to know what kind of beetle this will become. How you want your letter signed: Matt Lee

Prionid Larva

Dear Matt, This appears to be one of the Root Borers in the subfamily Prioninae. Was there a tree or shrub nearby, or perhaps the trunk of something that had died? While we are reluctant to provide a definitive species identification, it might be the larva of a California Root Borer like this image posted to BugGuide. According to BugGuide: “Larvae: Up to 80mm long” and “Larva feed primarily on living deciduous trees (oaks, madrone, cottonwood) and are also recorded from roots of vines, grasses, and decomposing hardwoods and conifers. Will also attack fruit trees growing on light, well-drained soils (e.g. apple, cherry, peach).” If that is a correct identification, here is an image of an adult male California Root Borer, though your larva might belong to a different, though similarly large Prionid with long antennae.

Dear Mr Sykes, We quickly identified this gorgeous Longicorn as Prosopocera lactator on Insect Designs, and we learned on Cerambycoidea.com that it is reported from “Angola, Zambia, S Tanzania, Malawi and N Mozambique” but not Botswana which is curious as Botswana is quite close to the countries listed in the range.

Subject: Black beetle with yellow stripes, longhorn? Geographic location of the bug: Carlsbad, NM Date: 12/02/2017 Time: 10:38 AM EDT We found this guy camped out on a particular rose bush for several days. Its contrasting colors and antenna made it stand out. We are guessing that it is a longhorn beetle just because of its incredibly long antenna. We searched Bug Guide and thought it’s shape and antenna resembled several different longhorns including some flat-faced (hippopsis) and flower longhorns, but we could not find a true match. How you want your letter signed: Curious

Double Banded Bycid

Dear Curious, You are correct that this is a Longhorn Beetle in the family Cerambycidae, and the entomological “nickname” for members of the family is Bycid. This is a Double Banded Bycid, Sphaenothecus bilineatus, which we quickly identified on BugGuide. According to BugGuide: “Larval hosts: Mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) and Roses (Rosa spp.).” The Double Banded Bycid is also pictured on Texas Entomology.